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Postal III
"Good or Insane? The choice is yours." Postal III''' (Stylized as '''Postal III) was intended to the third game in the Postal series, but has since been disowned by Running With Scissors. The game was officially announced in 2006 with very different graphics, weapons, sound effects, and the open-world gameplay of POSTAL 2. Due to the publisher, Akella, nearly going bankrupt because of the 2007-2008 financial crisis, the PS3/X360/Mac/Linux ports were cancelled, with the game being released far from what Running with Scissors originally envisioned. Because of this breakdown, Postal III was subsequently retconned in Paradise Lost. The game was officially released in Russia in November 3rd 2011, and saw a worldwide release on December 21st of that year. Plot After nuking the town of Paradise in Apocalypse Weekend, The Postal Dude finds himself in Paradise's sister town Catharsis. Out of cash and needing gas, the Postal Dude seeks employment. What follows are two separate but existing story lines (as the Dude tends to reference his actions in different paths) known as the Good Path and the Insane Path. Gameplay Unlike its predecessors, Postal III is played in a third-person, over-the-shoulder perspective with a cover system and regenerating health. Another notable change is that Postal III is fairly linear compared to POSTAL 2 ''with any open world elements left in an unlockable free roam mode. In addition to returning gameplay elements and weapons, Segways are introduced as vehicles in the game along with a morality system based on whether the player uses violent or nonviolent actions when completing a level. This affects the story leading the Dude toward either the Good path of joining the police or the Insane path of joining the Ecotologists with each path having its own unique ending. Development/What went wrong? Planning and development of Postal III began in early 2006 after Running with Scissors (developer of the Postal series) made a business deal with Akella (Russian publisher of the Postal series and at the time, the "EA" of Russia). Initial planning was made for the console market with a release date sometime in 2008.To this end, development was given to an internal Akella studio named Trashmasters who had developed several games at this point. Development of Postal III continued swimmingly with several videos released during 2007-2008 showcasing what the game was supposed to be like. While it didn't make its 2008 or 2009 release, it was looking worth the wait. Left turn Unfortunately, due to the 2008 financial crisis (the "Global Economic Meltdown"), business in Russia tanked, causing Akella to make several bad decisions, with the worst being the firing of the Postal III beta team (who are commonly referred to as the A-team and are responsible for the previous builds) and instead having the game rebuilt by a different, smaller, less experienced team (commonly known as the B-team), who would ''also end up getting fired with the game being frozen until 2010. The game was then brought back with yet another team (known as the C-team) who would also get shitcanned before finally being polished off by a D-team. The D-team eventually brought out a number of patches in 2012 before being fired by Akella, seemingly without being paid a single ruble for their efforts. It was due to this dysfunction that Postal III shifted both in style and design from what was originally envisioned by RWS. The free roaming element of missions were still in development around late 2008, before the decision was made to make the game linear (as the Source Engine didn't support level streaming despite Valve claiming it would). Also changed was the Postal Dude's character model, a change which occurred in very early 2010, with its last appearance in an early 2010 video named "Good Path vs. Bad Path" highlighting the moral choices that could be made in-game. Akella, facing bankruptcy, sought to ship the game in a desperate attempt to make money. It didn't work. Release After the release of Postal III in 2011, Running With Scissors did their best to calm the Postal Community and help them as best they could. While negotiations had broken down between RWS and Akella, it was the refusal of Akella to release the Postal III Source Code that ultimately burned the bridge. After this, RWS disowned the game, removing it from their store. Akella had narrowly averted bankruptcy by selling its unsold games as bank collateral (Seriously) with its vice president blaming its incompetence on the 2008 global economic meltdown, the rise of internet game sales, and the decision to release Postal III. No Shit. Aftermath Postal III would later be retconned out of the series' canon in POSTAL 2: Paradise Lost as nothing more than a hallucinatory dream of the Postal Dude during the 11-year time gap between Apocalypse Weekend and Paradise Lost. Still, this has not dissuaded several fans from trying to fix the mess that is Postal III. While the Source Code has yet to be released (more than likely lost by Akella during their bankruptcy as Trashmasters no longer exists), the SDK for Postal III would eventually be leaked onto the RWS forum along with a NoDRM patch for Window 8 users who could not launch the game due to the DRM not being compatible with the OS. Possible Salvation In the first ever "I Regret Nothing" podcast, RWS talk openly about the development of Postal III stating that they may indeed have the Source Code to Postal III but are unable to do anything about it as the code is in Russian. While Vince Desi has placed an open call to any coders who are willing to tackle the mess as it would take a large team to do so. Mike J in contrast states for those still holding onto Postal III to "simply let it go". Soundtrack Packaged with all non-standard editions of Postal III was an official soundtrack that contained various songs from the game. Despite being an official release, it doesn't include all of the music, just select tracks. # Postal III Theme - Patrick Jones # Barns, Booze, and a Village. - Peter Pan the Band # Showbiz Crisis - Les Petits Oursons # ABYSS - K.A.O.S. # Iyo-Iyo - Simba Vibration # In the Furnace of Devils - Peter Pan the Band # Lost, Left, All Alone - A Fall to Break # Aggressive Kids - Limitless Sound # Completely Fucked - Papamobile # You Didn't Hear - Peter Pan the Band # Against My Father - Indonesia # Eggs (Hold on Tight) - Peter Pan the Band # Morning - Dmitri Mikhailin # Goldstar - The Hen # For You (8-Bit Version) - Kuelporr # Fitish 80-X (Electro Fetish Mix) - Antony Sky # Independence - Noev K # Nothing is Sacred - Peter Pan the Band # Didgerivoodoo - Stands With Fists # Fuck Society - Peter Pan the Band # Going Postal - Secondhand Child # Going Postal LC Remix (Edited) - Secondhand Child Trivia * In the original release, a remixed version of "Goodbye Almond Eyes" by Tokio Rose was used in the Porn World a Jennifer Walcott Bodyguard missions. This would be later patched out due to Akella not actually having the rights. The song itself can still be found in the American Postal III manual, which lists the entire soundtrack. ** The track that replaced "Goodbye Almond Eyes" is unknown, but seems to be a techno cover of Richard Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries". * The Russian version had a pre-order exclusive DLC weapon known as the Fart Gun that isn't available for purchase in the international versions of the game. It is, however, possible to mod the game to function in said international versions. External links *Steam Store Page *Changelog for Postal III *ModDb page for Postal III SDK *Postal III on RWS website Category:Akella Category:Postal III Category:Games